Electrical fitting



C. R. HUBBARD AND D. M COOPER.

ELECTRICAL FITTING. APPLICATION FILED FEB 2. 1918.

1 ,81 0, 1 91. Patented July 15, 1919.

INVENTOR THE coLuMmA PLANOURAPH co., WASHINGTON, B. C.

WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT curios.

CECIL R. HUBBARD, OF BADEN, AND DAVID M. COOPER, OF AMBRIDGE,PENNSYLVANIA,

ASSIGNORS TO NATIONAL METAL MOLDING COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYL-VANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

ELECTRICAL FITTING.

Application filed February 2, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CECIL R. HUBBARD,

. residing at Baden, in the county of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania,a subject of the King of Great Britain, and DAVID M. COOPER, residing atAmbridge, inthe county of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen ofthe United States, have invented or discovered certain new and usefulImprovements in Electrical Fittings, of which improvements the followingis a specification.

Our invention relates to electrical fittings such as lamp sockets,receptacles, attachment plugs, etc., which fittings include in theirconstruction base blocks of insulation and metal caps inclosing the topsof such blocks.

As such fittings are usually constructed, the attachment of the caps tothe base-blocks is effected by screws extending through the caps andengaging nuts secured within the body of the blocks. For securing suchnuts in the base blocks of insulation, the blocks are provided withholes extending from the back to the front, the back portions of theholes being square in cross-section to receive the nuts and the frontportions being round to receive screws. The nuts, which are in serted inthe square portions ofthe holes and rest on the shoulders or ofi'setsbetween the square and round portions areseal'ed in place by wax orother suitable material,

There are various difficulties incident to such means of attaching thecaps to the base blocks. For example, the nuts are liable to be loosenedand removed .from their holes by reason of pressure on the top of themexerted through the round portions of the holes. Also, long screws arerequired for attaching the caps, and it is diflicult to locate the holesby the screws when the latter are inserted through the screw holes ofthe caps.

It is the object of our invention to provide, for electrical fittings ofthe character described, improved means for attaching the caps to thebases whereby the above-mentioned and other diificulties may beovercome.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings which forms part of ourspecification. Fig ure 1 is a longitudinal central sectional view of anelectrical fitting, embodying the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 15, 1919. Serial No. 215,165,

preferred form of our invention; Fig. 2 a side view of the lower portionof such fitting and Fig. 3 a perspective view of a detail ofconstruction to which reference is made hereinafter.

In the practice of our invention, we provide the base block ofinsulation with an attaching lug or member, a portion of which extendsabove the top of such block and is provided with means for engaging anattaching member extending through the cap. The base block and lug arepreferably provided with cooperating thrust and bearing faces soarranged that a push or a pull upon the lug will be resisted directly bythe base block rather than by the wax or other material which may beused to hold the lug in fixed position.

In the illustrated embodiment of our invention there is shown a baseblock of insulation 1 and a metal cap 2 which form part of a lampsocket. For the sake of clearness the electrical conductors, contactsand other portions of the socket are not shown in the drawings. Whilevarious forms and shapes of attaching lugs may be used, and the baseblock be provided with variously disposed thrust faces to resist forcesapplied to the lug, the lug and base block are preferably of the shapeand form indicated in Fig. 1. Since the two connections there shown arealike, the further description will be confined to one of them.

The base block 1 is provided with a hole 3 extending from the back tothe front thereof, and at the side of the central axis 4 of such block.Within the hole 3, and adjacent to the central axis 4, the block isprovided with a backwardly facing thrust face 5. A second thrustface 6acting oppositely to'that ofthe face 5 is formed on the top of the blockon the opposite side of the hole 3 from the face 5. Within the hole 3the lug 7 is placed and may, if desired, be held in position by means ofthe body of wax 8. The lug shown herein is provided with a laterally orinwardly turned tongue 9 engaging the thrust face 5 with an oppositelyprojecting portion 10 resting upon the top of a thrust face 6, and withmeans for engaging an attaching member preferably in the form of aninteriorly screw-threaded portion 11 lying in a general plane oblique tothe axis 4. The cap 2 is attached to the lug 7 and in turn to the baseblock I prefer ably by means of a screw 12. By using a lug of the shapeshown in Figs. 1 and 3, the tightening of the screw causes the lug to beclamped upon the thrust faces 5 and 6 of the base block, and hence thepacking of wax 8 may be omitted without affecting the connection or themanner of making it.

It will be observed of the connection which we have provided that thescrewthreaded portion 11 of the lug lies above the top of the base block1 and adjacent to the cap 2, and that accordingly the screw may bereadily caused to engage the lug. A thrust downwardly upon the lug or inthe direction 01": the axis of the screw 12 will be resisted by a thrustface 6 of the block 1 and by the wax or packing material 8 between thelug and the wall of the hole 3, the packing material being compressedlaterally rather than pushed outwardly. Furthermore, a pull upon the lugwill be resisted by the thrust faces 5 and 6 or by the thrust face 5alone, depending, respectively, upon whether such pull is in the generalline of the axis of the screw 12 or in line with the axis of the hole3'.

I11 case the cap 2 is tapered or of a general bell shape 13 in the planeof the screws 12', the holes 14: through the cap may be directly punchedwithout indenting the metal or otherwise interrupting the continuity ofthe bell-shaped portion 13. This neatness of construction is madepossible by reason of my improved connection wherein the portion 11 ofthe lug 7 may be disposed at any desired angle to the axis 40f thefitting.

According to the provision of the patent statute, we have described theprinciple and operation of our invention, together with theconstruction-which we now consider to be the best embodiment thereof.However, we desire to have it understood that within the scope of theappended claims our invention may be practised with other forms ofconstruction than that shown and described herein.

We claim as our invention:

1. In an electrical fitting, the combination of a base bloch ofinsulation, a cap inclosing the top thereof, said block being providedwith a pair of oppositely acting thrust faces disposed transversely ofthe central axis of the block and cap, a lug provided with a pair ofoppositely disposed bearing faces engaging said thrust faces, and anattaching member extending through said cap and engaging said lug forthe attachment of said cap to said block.

2. In an electrical fitting, the combination.

of a base block of insulation, a cap inclosing the top thereof, saidblock being provided with a hole substantially parallel to the centralaxis of the block and cap,,and further provided with backwardly facingdetent within said hole; a lug provided with a tongue engaging saiddetent, with a seat resting on the top of said block, and with aninteriorly screw-threaded portion lying in a plane oblique to saidcentral axis; and a screw extending through said cap and engaging thescrew threaded portion of said lug for the attachment of said cap tosaid base.

3. In an electrical fitting, the combination of a base block ofinsulation provided at a side thereof with a pair of oppositely actingthrust faces, a lug secured to said block and engaging said thrust facesthereof, said lug being provided with an interiorly screwthreadedportion projecting above the top of said block, a cap inclosing the topof said block, and a screw extending through said cap and engaging saidscr'eW threaded portion of the lug.

4:. In an electrical fitting, the combination of a base block ofinsulation provided at one side thereof with a hole extending from thetop to the bottom of the block and further provided within said hole onthe side adjacent to the center of the block with a backwardly facingdetent; a lug provided with a laterally extending tongue engaging saiddetent, with an oppositely extending seat resting on the top of saidblock, and with an interiorly screw-threaded portion lying in a planeoblique to the central axis of said block; a cap inclosing the top ofsaid block, and a screw extending through said cap and engaging saidscrew-threaded portion of the lug.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

CECIL It. HUBBARD. DAVID M. COOPER.

Witnesses:

., H. G. KURDREN,

M. EIiBERT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0.

